Pokemon: Hoenn Hero!
by Mewlax
Summary: Marina Mare is an aspiring trainer from Sootopolis City who is out to make the most of her pokemon journey!
1. Chapter 1

**Pokemon - Hoenn Hero!**

**Episode 1 – Sayonara Sootopolis City!**

**It was another beautiful day in Sootopolis City! The sun was shining, the water was crystal clear and not a cloud in the sky! There are many buildings in Sootopolis but our story leads us to one home in particular…**

"Good morning Sootopolis!"

A loud voice emerged from an open window on this particular house. A head popped out of the window as the hero of our story made her debut. She had shoulder length blonde hair, bold blue eyes and a beautiful smile. Having just woken up though, her appearance was not quite as glorious as it normally was. She gazed out of her window at the beauty of Sootopolis City in the morning.

The island was surrounded by a ring of rock, at least a hundred feet high. Within the giant ring of rock, most of it was sea water but with a large portion filled with land. Hundreds of buildings sat atop the land showing that Sootopolis truly was a bustling city, despite its location of being in the middle of the ocean of Hoenn.

The sun reflected off of the sea and onto the houses across from her. With the house being built on high land, she could get a great view from her bedroom window. She could see many water pokemon swimming around in the water as well as some trainers on land training hard. Being the home of the Sootopolis City Gym, many trainers came through to battle the gym leader, Juan.

She got to see many different types of pokemon and pokemon trainers during her life on the island. But as miraculous as the island was, her thoughts took her away to distant places, some of which she had seen pictures of. She admired the beauty of things in the world, and as such has a desire to travel. Coming back into reality she let out a sigh. After briefly sulking she perked up again after hearing an all too familiar voice – the voice of her mother.

"Marina! Breakfast's ready!" shouted the voice. It was a soothing voice that mellowed the hearts of all…especially useful when settling disputes within the house!

Marina grabbed a brush, straightened out her beautiful hair and ran downstairs. Approaching the dining room she saw her brothers were already up and awake. Her father was also at the table which was a nice sight to see since he was usually up at his research lab. Looking to the kitchen her mother turned round to smile at her and hand her a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning dear! Did you sleep well?" Her usual optimistic attitude brought a smile to Marina's face.

"Yeah I slept great! There's nothing like the sight of Sootopolis to inspire you in the morning!" Marina grew up to try and have the same optimism and cheeriness as her mother. Marina took her cereal and went to sit down at the table. "Morning guys!"

"Morning!" The three males at the table said in unison. Her older brother was busy munching away at his breakfast. He had always been on the stocky side but it always gave Marina the perfect insults when they got into arguments as she could always make fun of his weight seeing how the rest of the family were thin and fit. Her older brother's name was Rainier. He had been serious about getting into pokemon training for some time and desperately wanted to go out on a pokemon journey. He had many tapes of the Hoenn League so he could study the pokemon carefully and the types of attacks the trainers told them to use. His knowledge of pokemon was quite good, although not brilliant.

Rainier was slightly taller than Marina, being a year older than her. He always wore his favourite outfit – a pale blue t-shirt with green lining, his baggy brown shorts and his favourite accessory was his blue and green gloves that were missing the fingers to stop his hands from getting too hot. He had wavy brown hair and dark brown eyes. He sometimes seemed intimidating but was generally quite a soft person inside. He always enjoyed bragging and outperforming his siblings.

Marina's other brother was Dewey, a short kid only five years old. He had big blue puppy-dog eyes that he liked to use to get out of trouble. He had short, light brown hair and was normally wearing his shorts and t-shirt with pokeball designs on them. The final male at the table was Marina's father, Walter. He was a pokemon researcher but focused only on water pokemon. Walter would normally spend all his time at his coastal laboratory where he would study many water types. With lots of equipment and water vehicles, Walter was usually away from Sootopolis City frequently on trips to observe water pokemon in the wild. He wore a long, white lab coat that came just past the knees and some dull-coloured clothes underneath. He had brown eyes similar to Rainier's but they were always covered with his glasses. His hair was jet-black but started to show a few grey hairs.

Marina's mother sat down at the table with her breakfast too. "Walter, honey? Didn't you have something to tell the kids?" she asked. Walter pulled himself away from the paper he was reading. "Hmm? Ah, yes! How would you kids like to join me at the lab today to see all the water pokemon?"

The three kids stared at each other before answering. They couldn't believe that their father had actually invited them to come with him. They had only been to his lab about twice in their entire lifetime.

Dewey was the first to answer. "Yay! I wanna see all the pokemon!"

"Wow, really? I'd love to spend some time with you!" Marina was more pleased at the thought of being able to hang out with her father.

"Well that would be a cool experience and I can learn more about the water pokemon you've got down there!" Rainier wanted to improve his knowledge of pokemon.

"Then it's settled! We leave after breakfast!" Walter smiled and buried his head back in his newspaper again. A smile swept across everybody's faces like it was contagious as everyone got excited about their day. Marina's thoughts wandered again as she thought of all the places her father probably got to visit and wondered if she'd be able to go with him.

As soon as breakfast was over, Marina dashed upstairs to get dressed. She wore her absolute favourite outfit. She had an orange tank top, a bright green dress with a blue stripe along the bottom and she wore her brown and pink sandals. Running downstairs she saw that everyone was ready to leave. Walter left first and got his car ready for everyone to climb into. He had a jeep which he used for carting around large pieces of equipment. There was nothing inside of it so there was plenty of room for the kids.

Rainier, with his desire to always be the first, called shotgun and leapt into the front passenger seat next to Walter. Dewey sighed with disappointment and climbed into the back seat with Marina close behind. She didn't mind that Rainier had the front seat. She was used to this kind of behaviour and realised that there are some things which don't need to be competed for…the front seat of the car being one of them.

As they drove by, Marina looked at the sights around the city. Some of the buildings in this particular area of the city were beautifully painted. She caught the famous building in town that had been decorated by a group of Smeargle. She knew in her mind that pokemon were glorious creatures and had admired them for some time now. She adored the cute pokemon but also thought that having tough pokemon was cool too. Rainier was pleased about driving past the Sootopolis Gym. As soon as he saw it he pointed it out to everyone making it blatantly obvious. Marina had gotten sick of him pointing out the gym whenever they went past it in life that she immediately zoned out.

The trip seemed to take forever with Marina eager to see the research lab. After they finally reached it she sat back in her seat to stare at the building before getting out of the jeep. The research lab was almost completely walled with windows, making it look like a greenhouse. Half of the lab was built on land, with a large portion in the water. It was in that part of the lab that Walter could study the local water pokemon through the glass walls.

"Marina! Marina! Come on let's go!" Dewey tugged on her arm. Marina realised that while she had been staring at the lab the boys had already left the jeep. Marina was still strapped in and blushed in embarrassment. "Oops! Sorry!" She unbuckled herself and caught up with Rainier and her Dad who were already at the doors to the lab. As Marina stepped inside the lab she once again went into a state of staring at everything. Lots of equipment decorated the walls, computers dotted the room, some of which had men and women in lab coats using them.

"Here's my team of researchers, some of whom you have met before." Walter introduced his team to his children. Some of them turned round to wave at the kids while some were so involved with their work that they didn't move. Walter was the head researcher and founder of the marine research lab so he was the boss of the whole lab. He pulled out a key card with his photo on it.

"Let's go into the underwater lab and my personal office shall we?" He flashed the card to the kids and swiped it into a nearby card slot. A set of thick water-tight metallic doors opened and Walter led the three kids into the underwater lab. Dewey hadn't seen much technology before so he was completely amazed at the concept.

"This is an exclusive area of the lab, only accessible to myself and a couple of my assistants." Marina was the last of the group to walk through the water-tight doors which shut abruptly as soon as she stepped through them. The platform they were standing on suddenly shifted as the kids realised they were in an elevator. Slowly heading down with a lot of noise, the elevator finally came to a halt. Another set of metallic doors slid into view and opened to reveal the underwater lab. It was much bigger than they would have imagined. More windows lined the walls which gave the perfect view underwater. Dewey ran to the glass windows to look at the pokemon swimming around outside. There were more computers in this part of the lab, but what took up the most room was the water tanks which had pokemon inside of them with sensors attached to them.

"What are all those weird wires attached to those pokemon?" Marina asked.

"Those are sensors that detect a pokemon's body temperature, mood and brain waves to name a few things. We use them to see how these water pokemon react to different things. Rainier walked past all of the tanks, naming the pokemon in them as he went past. Marina didn't like how he was trying to show off. Marina looked at some of the computer terminals which had bizarre readings and charts, none of which made sense.

"Dad? Why are these monitors on? There's no one else here is there?" Marina looked around to check.

"Hmm…Wade? Are you in here?" Walter shouted loudly. A splash of water made Marina jump. She turned around to see someone climb out of one of the water tanks. He was wearing a scuba diving set. As he climbed out he removed his mouth-piece to speak.

"Hi Professor. What's up?"

"Wade, I'd like you to meet my three kids. This is Rainier, Marina and little Dewey is over there." Walter pointed to each of his kids as he introduced them. "Kids? This is my main assistant, Wade."

Wade removed his wetsuit and was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt. He grabbed a lab coat off of a nearby coat rack and sorted himself out. "Hey kids, welcome to the underwater lab!"

"Wade is one of the top researchers here at the lab and knows a lot about water pokemon!"

"But nowhere near as much as you, Professor!" Wade tried to flatter Walter. "Did you bring them here to give them their…ya know…" Wade winked at the Professor.

"Shh!" Walter quickly replied. "Yes I have! Don't spoil the surprise!" Rainier turned round to look at his father. He became suspicious…was his father planning something? "Feel free to look around the lab, kids. Wade and I have work to do." Walter decided to leave his kids to explore the lab. Dewey went back to looking at the water pokemon through the window. A Magikarp swam by and stared at Dewey. The way Dewey stared at it with his mouth gaping open, it almost seemed like the Magikarp's reflection.

Rainier decided to fiddle around on one of the computers. He had found a program with information on the water pokemon held at the lab. He flicked through the information and learned some of the attacks that the water pokemon could perform. Marina was busy walking around looking at everything. She saw an interesting looking machine with a spherical-shaped slot embedded in the centre of the base. "Hey Wade, what's this machine?" Now sitting only a few feet away from her she decided to ask him. Wade swivelled round on his chair to see what she was looking at.

"That's a pokeball transport system. It's used when we need to send or receive pokeballs from far away. Sometimes we get sent water pokemon from other water pokemon research labs around the world and sometimes we send some to them."

"Wow!" Marina didn't realise such a machine existed. Behind the machine was a series of racks that had pokeballs in them. They had labels on each rack. One was labelled "Lilycove Research Lab". Marina assumed that these pokeballs had been sent from the Lilycove Research Lab. As she looked across to the other racks she saw a rack with a photograph of her face on it, and next to it, one with Rainier's face. The racks were empty but Marina was still puzzled as to why her and Rainer's faces were on them.

"Dad! Hey, Dad! What's this?" Walter was busy with a notepad, writing notes on a Seaking inside one of the water tanks. He looked up to see Marina was standing in front of the pokeball racks. His eyes widened as he realised she had made a discovery that he wanted kept secret for a little while longer.

"Oh no…" Walter let out a sigh. "I was hoping to tell you this a little later today but I guess I've got no choice to tell you now. Rainer! Dewey! Come over here for a second!" Dewey broke away from staring at the Magikarp and Rainier stopped looking at one of the terminals. Walter and his kids gathered round the pokeball storage racks.

"Now…Rainer, I know you've been studying pokemon in your free time a lot lately. And Marina, I know you've been wanting to travel and see the world…So, I decided I'd finally let you have your very own pokemon! Now you can both go on a pokemon journey!"

Marina and Rainier both turned their heads to look at each other and opened their mouths as wide as they could go. They couldn't believe what they had just heard! "Are you serious!" Rainier was close to shouting with excitement.

"Very serious." Walter answered with a proud smile. I want you to get out and see the world, train some pokemon and make the most of your lives! I decided to give you each a water pokemon that I obtained on my research expeditions."

Dewey tugged on his father's lab coat. "What about me, Daddy?" Can't I go on a pokemon journey?" He flared up his big puppy-dog eyes again at his father. "No, Dewey you're still in school and besides, you're too young to go out pokemon training! But that doesn't mean you're missing out! I will still give you a water pokemon, but you will have to keep it as a pet. Feel free to train it and battle any trainers in Sootopolis you wish, but you can't leave on a journey for a few years yet!"

Deep down Dewey was upset, but he was happy that he was going to get a pokemon for himself. Walter reached into his lab coat pocket and pulled out three pokeballs. He picked the first one out with his other hand and threw it into the air. The pokeball opened with a burst of light and a water pokemon with a horn on its head, its tongue sticking out and a large tail appeared.

"Seel! Seel!" The pokemon exclaimed.

"Wow, a Seel!" Rainier knew what it was, he had seen one before and of course he had seen it in books.

"That's right Rainier, and it's your pokemon from now on!" Walter handed the empty pokeball to Rainier. He stared at it on his hand. He had never handled a pokeball before. Walter took the second pokeball and opened it. A much smaller pokemon appeared. It was blue in appearance with a large fin on its head.

"Dewey, this is your pokemon, Mudkip!" Walter kneeled down to pat it on the head. Dewey squatted down to look at it. He laughed with excitement at it. "Wow, a Mudkip!" He smiled at it, and it smiled back.

"Kip! Mudkip!" its voice was so cute that Dewey couldn't refrain from hugging it. Marina clenched her teeth and her fists in anticipation. She knew the final pokeball had a pokemon for her in it! Walter pressed the button on the final pokeball and it increased in size. Gently throwing the pokeball in the air, it opened to reveal Marina's pokemon. Walter caught the pokeball now that it had opened. Marina's pokemon was a spherical one that looked quite cute. Marina was pleased that her pokemon was cute. She loved cute pokemon!

"Spheal! Spheal!" Marina's pokemon clapped it's hands in excitement.

"And Marina, this is your pokemon, Spheal!" Walter said, handing her the pokeball. Marina patted it on the head.

"I like it! It's so cool!" Marina smiled at her father thankfully. Rainier pointed his pokeball at Seel and recalled it into its pokeball. He had seen trainers do it all the time but it felt good to finally do it himself. After he did, he pressed the button the pokeball and it shrank back down to miniature size which he then slipped into his pocket. Marina watched him and did the same for her Spheal. Dewey loved his pokemon so much that he didn't want to recall it so he picked it up and carried it in his arms.

"Ok, now we have to get to all the technical stuff!" Walter readjusted his glasses. "As you both may or may not know, you can only carry six pokemon at a time. Any others will be transported elsewhere for safekeeping. I've decided to let you two use the pokeball storage racks I have behind you to store your pokemon. Whenever you need to switch pokemon, you just call me up and I can use the pokeball transporter to exchange pokemon with you! I've already ordered a pokedex for you Rainier, and you Marina. You'll need to register at the pokemon centre and you can pick them up from there as well as the extra pokeballs you'll need. I know we haven't been here long but i'm guessing you're itching to sort out all the details right now aren't you?"

Walter took a short breather to see Marina quickly and excitedly nodding her head up and down with a smile showing. Rainier was slightly calmer about it and smiled back at his dad.

"Ok then, let's go! Wade? I'll leave you in charge as always while I'm gone! I'll be back later!" Walter shouted to his assistant whose eyes were glued to his computer monitor. Wade stuck his thumb up at Walter but didn't say anything. He was far too busy in his research to look away from the screen! Walter swiped his card in the slot by the door and the family left together at once.

On the journey to the pokemon centre, Marina was so excited to be going on a pokemon journey that she couldn't help but let out a loud yell of excitement that scared Dewey out of his wits. She was also eager to see the inside of the Sootopolis City pokemon centre for the first time. She'd seen it before from her bedroom window although it was quite far off to see it clearly. As the jeep pulled up to the pokemon centre, Marina was surprised that it was much bigger than she thought it would be. For a change, Marina beat Rainier to the doors and raced into the pokemon centre. Her shoulders hit the automatic doors as she raced inside, not letting them open fully.

Inside the pokemon centre, the lobby looked huge. There were a few trainers looking after their pokemon of all different types and sizes. Dewey went around the place looking at everyone else's pokemon and tried to brag about how great his was. He was a hit with the ladies who thought he was adorable, but most of the male trainers were not so welcoming. One trainer in particular wasn't convinced that Dewey's Mudkip was better than his Blastoise!

Walter went straight to the counter to see Nurse Joy handing back six pokeballs to a young girl. She looked up at Walter and smiled at him.

"Good day, Professor Mare! How are you today?" Her smile and positive attitude seemed even bigger than his wife's…a statistic he found hard to believe!

"Hello Nurse Joy! Are the two pokedex units I ordered ready?" He smiled back at her. Was he being polite or was he showing signs of flirting with her?

"They certainly are! The package arrived two days ago! Is today the day your children are starting off as pokemon trainers?"

"Yes it certainly is today!" This is Rainier behind me and Marina is…uh…Oh there she is, looking at the video phones. Marina! Come over here!" Walter yelled across the lobby to Marina who was watching a telephone call take place although it was certainly none of her business. She turned round and rushed towards the front desk to see what her father wanted.

"Phew! What's up?" Marina caught her breath. Although she was thin, she wasn't really very fit. Nurse Joy had disappeared temporarily, or so Walter thought until she came back into the lobby with a cardboard box. She delicately opened the box to find it filled with Styrofoam packaging. She put her hands in and found something inside of it. It was a small, handheld electronical device in a sort of oval shape. It had a big button on the left hand side of the cover. She pulled out another, seemingly identical to the other.

Nurse Joy pressed some keys on her computer monitor at lightning fast speed. An enormous computer monitor slowly dropped down behind her. Attached to the bottom of the monitor was what looked like a camera.

"Ok now, smile!" Nurse Joy chuckled. Rainier posed for his picture and a bright flash confirmed that his picture had been taken. Marina didn't know what to do in her picture so she just showed a little smile. Another bright flash occurred as Marina had her picture taken. Nurse Joy fiddled around on her computer for a few moments more and the two beginning trainers looked up in awe at the giant monitor. Their pictures both appeared next to each other with their names underneath – Rainier Mare and Marina Mare. Shortly afterwards a large "OK!" sign filled the screen. The screen then went blank as the monitor retracted into the ceiling where it came from.

"Ok then, and which storage facility will you be registering with?" Nurse Joy asked. Marina opened her mouth like a fish and stared blankly at Nurse Joy. She didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"Uh, they'll both be registering with my research lab, Nurse Joy." Walter stepped in to prevent his daughter from looking like a fool!

Nurse Joy nodded and pressed some more keys on her computer. She took a pokedex and slipped it into a slot in the computer and then did the same with the other. Nurse Joy's smile hadn't vanished at all while they had been there. It seemed almost scary to Marina! Nurse Joy picked up each pokedex in turn and handed one to Rainier and the other to Marina.

"Here you are! I'm happy to report that you're both now fully registered! I hope you enjoy your pokemon journeys and have a safe time! And before I forget, I have something else for you!" Nurse Joy picked up a large box from under the counter and picked up six pokeballs which she handed to Marina. She then picked up another six from the box and handed them to Rainier.

"Here you are, these are your pokeballs! When you catch a seventh pokemon it will be transported to your father's lab and an empty pokeball will be automatically transported to you as a replacement!" Nurse Joy informed them. Marina was amazed at the technology involved in pokeball management.

"And your pokedex will give you detailed information on any pokemon you encounter as well as information on the kinds of attacks it can use! Just press the button on the front to activate the pokedex! It also serves as your ID which you may need to show at times during your journeys. All I can say now is good luck and take good care of your pokemon! My relatives at the other pokemon centres around the world will be more than happy to heal your pokemon when they are hurt or tired. Now have fun!" Nurse Joy nodded at them and had finally finished all she had to say.

"Ok kids, we'll have a farewell dinner tonight and tomorrow you can both leave on your pokemon journeys! Deal?" Walter had planned this day in advance. His wife had also been planning a lovely dinner for their departure.

"Sure Dad, that sounds fine to me! We both need time to pack anyway!" Rainier wanted to prepare for his journey. He knew in his head exactly what he wanted to bring as he had thought about this for a long time. Walter called Dewey over and the four of them went back home.

Several hours had passed and Marina was sitting in her room. She had her backpack all ready although she couldn't pack everything she had wanted as it wouldn't have fit inside! She now realised what her father meant when they got home about packing lightly. But she had no idea she had to pack this lightly! Having finished packing, she wondered where she was going to keep her pokeballs for easy access.

Changing into a pair of jeans, she took off her skirt and decided to get creative with it. She took some of her refrigerator magnets off of the fridge (while staying out of the way of her mother's cooking!) and took them upstairs. She ripped off the actual magnets and managed to attach them to her skirt. She tested out her new skirt. She placed the miniature pokeballs onto the magnets and they stayed there perfectly. She was pleased at her new outfit and the magnets were hardly recognisable. The last pokeball she attached to her skirt was Spheal's. As she attached it, she decided to take it back off again and let out her pokemon. Spheal materialised in front of her and clapped its hands.

"Spheal! Spheal!" it cried.

"Hey there Spheal! How's it going? We're going to be leaving on a pokemon journey tomorrow. Doesn't that sound fun?" Marina was talking to it cutely like it was a baby. Spheal clapped its hands again in agreement. Marina had a thought and grabbed the pokedex out of her bag. She pushed the button on the front and sure enough it opened to reveal a little screen. The cover had flipped round and was now at the back of the pokedex. She pointed it at Spheal and its picture appeared on it. Marina jumped as a feminine voice came from the pokedex.

"Spheal, the Clap Pokemon. Spheal can easily endure cold temperatures without feeling them due to its fur. This makes Spheal a rare pokemon that can sometimes only be found in the coldest of regions." The pokedex informed Marina. Marina was amazed at the capabilities of this little electronic device. She folded the cover back over and placed the pokedex back in her bag. She pointed Spheal's pokeball at it and returned it into its pokeball.

"Sorry Spheal, it's nearly time for dinner. We'll get to know each other better in the morning when we leave together!" Marina straightened herself out and went downstairs to get ready for dinner. An enormous feast had been laid out on the table. There were only five people in the family, but it seemed like far too much food for them to eat. Marina jumped into her usual seat at the table and tucked her napkin into the top of her tank top. Everyone else was at the table too, except for her mother who was still in the kitchen preparing the last piece of food. She entered shortly afterwards with a plate of burgers and placed them onto the last remaining spot on the table.

"Dig in everybody!" She said as she finally took her seat. Rainier grabbed the plates with his favourite food on it first and started piling food on his own plate. Marina had great metabolism so she grabbed lots of food too. She could work it off easily anyway now that she was going on a journey. Everybody started munching on their food except for Marina's mother who shed a few tears knowing that her oldest kids were leaving home. Walter had plans of giving them pokemon just over a year ago but she asked him to hold it off for a while as she didn't like the thought of them leaving.

Dewey's Mudkip was in the corner eating some pokemon food that Walter had prepared. He knew exactly what water pokemon like Mudkip liked to eat. Mrs Mare had shaken off her sadness and decided to question her kids.

"So kids, what pokemon did you get from your father?" She asked. She struggled to keep her tears hidden.

"Dad gave me a Seel!" Rainier boasted. "It's the best one!" Marina looked up and gave him an evil look.

"What are you talking about? It's my Spheal that's the best pokemon!" She argued back.

"Honey, you gave them both the same pokemon?" Mrs Mare asked. Walter was disappointed in his wife for asking that question. They were two very different pokemon, but with similar names. Still, he was an expert and she had little involvement with pokemon so she was perfectly entitled to ask stupid questions like that.

"No dear…Rainier got a SEEL and Marina got a SPHEAL. They're both different pokemon!" He corrected. The way he answered made her feel inferior.

"Yeah and mine's the best!" Rainier yelled.

"What? Everyone knows my Mudkip is the best one!" Dewey tried to argue with his brother. He always tried his hardest to win arguments with Rainier since they had them quite often.

"Kids! Kids! Calm down, they all have unique abilities that makes it difficult to determine which is the best!" Walter used his pokemon knowledge to make a quick finish to the argument. Everyone calmed down as silence struck the table.

"So what are you going to do while you're out there Marina?" Mrs Mare asked her only daughter. Marina stopped and looked to the ceiling in thought.

"Hmm…I'm not sure actually…I was just going to travel and meet lots of interesting people and see lots of beautiful places! And to make as many pokemon friends as I can!" Marina tried her best at answering the question. She had no idea what her goals were on her journey but she felt she had answered the question well enough.

"Well I'm going to battle gym leaders and enter the Hoenn League! My goal is to become a powerful trainer!" Rainier decided to butt in even though he hadn't been asked.

"That's nice honey!" Mrs Mare acknowledged her son to please him and also to keep him quiet. She didn't want another argument to break out. Walter grabbed his glass and stood up.

"Here's to Rainier and Marina! May you both do us proud in whatever you choose to do! And have a fantastic pokemon journey!" Walter gave a quick but powerful speech. The others raised their glasses too.

The night rushed by particularly quickly for Marina. She thought she would have trouble sleeping but didn't have any problems. Morning came along and Marina was woken up by the sunlight hitting her window. Being in Sootopolis, the ring of rock meant that the sun didn't hit the houses until a little later in the day than most places around the world. She leapt out of bed full of energy and grabbed her clothes. After getting dressed she ran downstairs and put her arms through the straps of her backpack. Just as the morning before, she was last down to breakfast with everyone else already seated.

"Good morning dear! Ready for this exciting day?" Mrs Mare asked. She handed her a bowl of cereal which she started eating before she had even sat down at the table. There was silence at the table again. Marina and Rainier had too much on their minds. As soon as breakfast was over, everybody assembled outside ready to climb into the jeep. Walter had a camera on a tripod in front of them. He wanted a picture of the family before Rainier and Marina left. Setting the timer on the camera, he ran to join the rest of his family who all put on a big smile for the photograph.

Walter drove the family down to Sootopolis City Port. Walter handed a ticket to both Marina and Rainier. They both had a picture of a ship on them which matched the one they could both see at the end of the pier. A gentle breeze blew as Marina and Rainier both looked at their family. Marina felt sad that she had to say goodbye for a while. She had never been away from her family for more than a day. Walter was first to say goodbye. He walked up to Marina first and hugged her.

"Be good my little girl. I'm going to miss you. But don't forget you can always reach me by phone. You'll need to contact me at the lab anyway to exchange pokemon." He handed her a slip of paper with the number for his laboratory on it. He then stepped over to Rainier and patted him on the shoulder and then shook his hand.

"And good luck Rainier. I know you'll do me proud. Your competitive spirit will get you through times of hardship. Take care." He handed Rainier a similar piece of paper as he did to Marina. Walter stepped back and Mrs Mare was next to say goodbye. She had a small package wrapped in foil in each hand. She handed one to each of her oldest kids. It was their lunch for later. She then gave Marina a hug.

"Take care my little angel! I know I'll miss you terribly! Don't forget that you're always welcome home and we'll always love you!" Mrs Mare shed some more tears and Marina was struggling to keep back her own. She then went to hug Rainier.

"Rainier? I know you'll be busy with your pokemon journey, but if you ever get some free time on your hands, don't forget to call in at home! It would mean the world to me!" Crying some more she lifted her head from her son's shoulders and attempted to wipe off the tears on his shirt. Dewey was last to say goodbye. He looked up at Rainier and gave him a hug round his waist.

"With you gone, I won't have anyone to play video games with!" Dewey looked at his feet in sadness. Rainier knelt down and put his hand on Dewey's shoulder. Dewey raised his head to look Rainier dead in the eyes.

"Don't worry, squirt! With a new Mudkip, you'll want to spend all your time playing with it instead of playing games! If you train up that Mudkip, next time I see you we can have a pokemon battle! That's like a real video game!" Dewey smiled back at Rainier. He had said exactly the right thing to cheer him up. Dewey walked up to Marina and looked up at her with his flaring puppy-dog eyes again.

"Aww…come here…" Marina knelt down to give him a hug. "When I come back home I can show you all the cute pokemon I'll have caught! How does that sound? You like playing with Mudkip so I'm sure you'll love playing with more cute pokemon!"

"Yay! Ok, it's a deal!" Dewey stepped back to join his mother and father. Marina and Rainier both waved goodbye and walked towards the ship.

"Goodbye Mom! Goodbye Dad! Bye Dewey! I love you all!" Marina shouted back. The attendant at the ship's entrance hurried them on board as the ship was waiting to set sail. Marina and Rainier ran to the back of the deck to wave goodbye again. After a minute or two the ship started moving. Other people were at the back of the ship waving at their own families.

As the ship started to speed up, Marina and Rainier waved goodbye, as did their family. The ship had travelled quite far away from the pier now so their family seemed really small. Rainier sat back and relaxed while Marina continued to wave until they were out of sight. The ship sailed through a large tunnel that went straight through the ring of rock that surrounded Sootopolis and the trainers were now officially starting their pokemon journeys!

**And so…As the ship sails out of Sootopolis City, Marina and Rainier both head off into Hoenn to meet many pokemon, battle many trainers and to strive to be the best they can be. Will they succeed? Only time will tell! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Pokemon - Hoenn Hero!**

**Episode 2 – The Mirage Menagerie!**

**Having just left Sootopolis City by ship, Marina and Rainier decide to relax for a bit on deck. With a water pokemon each to start their journeys with, the two trainers seem pretty confident about what's in store for them in the future! **

"Ah, feel that lovely tropical Hoenn weather!" Rainier said happily as he put his hands behind his head and fell back into his seat with eyes closed. He was right, Hoenn was a tropical place, especially the area they lived in. Marina looked up into the sky. She could see a small flock of flying pokemon soaring above the ship. She reached into her bag and got her pokedex out.

"Hmm…let's see…" She quietly said to herself as she flipped open the pokedex and pointed it towards the flying pokemon.

"Wingull, the Seagull pokemon. These pokemon can usually be found nesting on cliffs. It is not yet skilled at flapping its wings and prefers to soar on updrafts to stay airborne." The pokedex informed her.

"Wingull is a water pokemon as well as a flying pokemon…" Rainier commented. He heard the pokedex and decided to provide Marina with more information than the pokedex gave her.

"Really? Wow…That's an unusual type combination…" Marina looked up again and stared at the flock of Wingull. Both trainers stayed where they were, not wanting to move until the flock of Wingull decided to fly away from the ship to a tiny island. Marina walked to the edge of the deck to continue watching them.

"I wonder where they're going?" She said out loud. After pausing for a second or two she quickly turned round to Rainier with her eyes wide open.

"Hang on! Where are WE going?" She hurried to her bag and fumbled around for her ticket. She squinted as she tried to read the writing, although its destination was the biggest piece of writing on the ticket.

"Pacifi…Pacifid…" She attempted to read the name of their destination.

"Pacifidlog Town!" Rainier cut in. Although he loved watching Marina make a fool of herself he always jumped at the chance to show off that he knew more than her at times.

"Really? And can Mr. World Traveller tell me what's there?" She leaned towards him with an evil smile on her face. She could tell he only knew the name of the island and not its main features. Rainier fell to the side of the bench they were sitting on and opened his eyes.

"Uh…Well there's this…umm…" He hesitated for a moment until he thought of a great cover-up line.

"You'll just have to wait and see for yourself!" He crossed his arms and showed off a pleased smile. He was proud that he had saved himself from embarrassment, but Marina knew him all too well. She smirked and rolled her eyes back.

"Yeah right…" Marina went to sit back down with Rainier. She slipped on a pair of sunglasses from her bag since the sun was a little too bright for her liking.

"So Rainier? Why do you want to enter the pokemon league so much?" She asked him. Rainier sat up straight and clenched his fists in excitement.

"That's easy! Ever since seeing our gym leader, Juan, battling once in public when we were young I was fascinated by his skill, his style and his powerful pokemon! I always said to myself since that day that I'd eventually become a powerful trainer too! Maybe even become a gym leader myself! But I can't prove myself as a gym leader until I know I'm one of the best trainers around. To do that I want to enter the Hoenn League and come out as the winner! If I do that, who knows what kind of opportunities await me afterwards!" He was so eager to accomplish his dream. Marina looked at the sky to think for a bit.

"Juan is a water-pokemon trainer isn't he? Does that mean you're going to collect only water pokemon too since he's your hero?" Rainier looked at her and snapped back. He had asked himself the same question before and knew exactly how to answer.

"No way! If I collected only water pokemon and I came across a grass pokemon trainer, the odds are against me winning! I think it's important to have a large selection of different pokemon types so you have a better chance of beating whatever opponent you're up against. Of course I'd prefer to have the most powerful pokemon around on my team!" Rainier fantasises about having pokemon like Dragonite, Gyarados, Charizard, Metagross and other powerful, fully evolved pokemon.

"Well I wouldn't mind getting powerful pokemon but the most important factor I think is that you get along with your pokemon as friends! I'd love to have some cute pokemon friends because I think I'd get along with them better!" Marina joins Rainier in fantasising about their most desired pokemon. Marina thinks about cute pokemon like Jigglypuff, Pikachu, Skitty and Smoochum.

"So don't you want to enter the Hoenn League then?" Rainier asked. Marina snapped out of her daydream to think about it.

"Hmm…well I guess I could…how do I do it?" She asked. She had no idea how the system worked. Rainier stood up in one of his bragging moods and filled her in about it.

"Well, dear sister, a trainer must travel around Hoenn and earn a minimum of eight badges in order to prove their worth. To earn a badge you need to defeat a gym leader." Marina crossed her arms.

"And that's what you're planning on doing? Beating eight gym leaders?"

"Yup. Like I said, I want to be a great trainer, and to prove that to myself I want to win the Hoenn League but in order to do that I need to beat eight gym leaders. You know, gym leaders aren't your average trainers! They're leaders of their gyms for a reason!"

Marina walked to the side of the ship's deck. She leaned over and closed her eyes. She wasn't too sure of her skills and whether she'd be capable of defeating a gym leader. After all, she was a new trainer. At least Rainier had done his research and knew what he was doing.

"Well…" She paused for a moment, not sure how to continue. "I..I suppose I could give it a shot. I mean there's a gym in every town and city, right? I can fight the Pacifidlog gym leader can't I?" She asked. It became even more obvious that she was oblivious to how the system worked.

"No! There are only gyms in selected town and cities. As far as I know there isn't one in Pacifidlog…but don't quote me on that!" Rainier felt like boasting some more but decided not to since he wasn't entirely sure if there actually was a gym in Pacifidlog.

Marina sat back down next to Rainier and was about to eat the sandwiches her mother had given her when they left. She started to unwrap them from the foil they were encased in until an excited voice was heard across the deck.

"Yay! A pokemon battle!"

"I wonder what pokemon they'll use?"

"Maybe a rock type?" More voices were heard and as Marina lifted her sunglasses to see what was going on she realised there was actually a crowd forming. Rainier and Marina looked at each other and ran over to see what was going on. They both squeezed into an opening in the crowd to find an empty space in the middle, filled with only two people, one on each side. They both had a pokeball each and were ready to throw them for battle. One of the trainers was a boy who looked to be about fourteen years old, while the other was a girl, probably only about eleven or twelve. The boy was first to send his pokemon out. He threw it into the space with a lot of effort and as the pokeball landed hard it opened to release a white light which quickly transformed into a pokemon shape. After releasing the pokemon, the pokeball closed and bounced back into the hand of the boy trainer.

"Ok, Lairon let's get this battle rolling!" The trainer said. He looked confident that his pokemon would win. The boy's pokemon was Lairon, who shouted its name in agreement with its trainer's cheering. Next it was the girl's turn to throw a pokeball. She twirled around and threw the pokeball high into the air. The bright light that emerged moulded into the shape of a cat-like pokemon. It was a sort of beige colour with purple bits too. Marina thought it looked cool and was impressed by the girl's technique of throwing her pokeball. Marina could tell the girl was enjoying herself, something that Marina always told herself she'd want to keep doing on her journey.

"Ok Delcatty, let's show this guy a good battle!" The girl said to her pokemon. Delcatty let out a meow and moved into an attacking pose, ready to begin the battle.

"Delcatty! Start off with a Double Edge attack!" The girl shouted. Delcatty ran at the Lairon at full speed.

"Quick Lairon! Iron Defense!" The boy quickly retaliated with an attack of his own. Lairon rolled up into a ball and remained perfectly still as Delcatty charged into it. Delcatty bounced back and fell onto its back. It struggled to get up. It was almost like running full blast into a brick wall and Delcatty had gotten seriously injured. Lairon was still rolled up in a ball.

"Ok Lairon, now let's try a Rollout attack!" The boy yelled. Lairon began spinning on the spot until it had built up enough speed. As it blasted off from its spot it aimed straight for Delcatty.

"Watch out Delcatty!" The girl shrieked in horror. She knew that her Delcatty had already been seriously weakened. A hit from this Rollout attack could end the match. Delcatty quickly jumped up into the air to dodge the attack. As Delcatty was still in the air, the girl trainer called out another attack.

"Iron Tail!" The girl commanded. Lairon was rolling around in circles down below. Delcatty's tail began to glow a bright colour and Delcatty dove back down at Lairon putting a lot of force into its Iron Tail attack. Delcatty's aim was perfect, and it hit Lairon from above while it was still rolling around. Lairon uncurled itself as it leapt backwards, slightly damaged from the attack. The girl's eyebrows dropped in anger as she was really determined to beat this Lairon now.

"Let's Sing that Lairon to sleep!" She said. Delcatty began singing in a melodious tune that was so soothing. People in the crowd started to get a bit sleepy from the effects of the attack. Lairon was getting the most of the attack though and couldn't stay awake for much longer.

"Hmm…a Sing attack huh? Drown out that Delcatty's awful singing voice with a Metal Sound attack!" The boy said to his Lairon. He was feeling pretty dreary himself. Lairon opened its mouth and let out a horrible high-pitched noise that echoed for miles. It was like a Screech attack but more intense. The drowsy people in the crowd burst their eyes back open from the horrible noise. Delcatty's singing couldn't be heard anymore and it was forced to stop singing altogether as it started cringing from the Metal Sound attack. Marina was forced to place her hands over her ears, the sound was too much to handle!

"Now Tackle it!" The boy trainer yelled. He had his hands cupped around his mouth to try and project his voice over the Metal Sound attack. Lairon stopped its Metal Sound attack, but as it lingered on for a few seconds more, Lairon charged at Delcatty with extreme power. Delcatty, still cringing from the previous attack, its eyes closed, was unable to do anything. Lairon hit Delcatty and it flew backwards several feet. It struggled to try and get back up but was unable to. The girl fell to her knees and recalled her Delcatty. The Metal Sound attack had now gone, but Marina was temporarily having trouble hearing.

"Nice job, Lairon!" Lairon turned round and smiled back at its trainer. The boy pointed the pokeball back at Lairon, and the red of beam of light emitted from it recalled the pokemon. Rainier admired the Lairon, it was a cool pokemon to have and powerful to boot. The boy and girl trainers left the space and the crowd had become disappointed. They wanted to see more battling.

"Hey Marina! Why don't we battle to keep the crowd happy?" Rainier asked. He was itching to try out his Seel's attacks in battle. Marina was a little unsure about it. She had never battled before. Rainier ran out into the space and grabbed Seel's pokeball.

"Come on, let's go! Don't keep these people waiting!" Rainier urged her on. She knew she couldn't back out now, so she took a deep breath and walked into the space and stood opposite Rainier. Her arm began to tremble as she was rather nervous. Rainier threw his pokeball into the air and sure enough, Seel entered the battlefield.

"Come on, Marina! Let's battle!" Marina grabbed Spheal's pokeball from around her waist and was about to throw it but stopped to think about something first.

"Hmm…maybe I should think about how I throw my pokeballs from now on! Maybe like that girl did?" She quietly thought to herself.

"Come on! Quit Procrastinating!" Rainier decided to pressurise her more. Marina nodded and decided to throw her pokeball in a fancy way like the girl trainer did. She decided to spin around on the spot and throw her pokeball too. However it did not go as expected as she became dizzy from the spinning and threw her pokeball into the crowd! Spheal emerged from the crowd and walked up to Marina.

"Oops…Guess that didn't work out as well as I had hoped…Ok Spheal, this is our first battle! You ready?" Spheal clapped its hands in happiness like it normally did and positioned itself on the makeshift battlefield.

"Ladies first, dear sister!" Rainier yelled across to Marina. Marina stood there and looked down at her feet. She put her hands behind her back and began to bite her lower lip.

"What's wrong?" Rainier asked. Marina looked up at him and was embarrassed about telling him what the problem was.

"I…Umm…I don't know what to say to Spheal!" She nervously said. Everyone in the crowd fell over anime style. They couldn't believe her! Rainier slapped himself on the forehead.

"Oh boy, don't you know any of Spheal's attacks? Look them up in the pokedex!" Rainier was ashamed of being her brother and felt a little embarrassed himself! Marina took her bag off of her shoulders and opened it to take out her pokedex.

"Hmm...What are Spheal's attacks?" She asked the pokedex as she opened it.

"Spheal's more common attacks include Water Gun, Body Slam and Powder Snow. However, more attacks can be taught by trainers and from experience in battle." The pokedex told her. She closed it up and put the pokedex back into her bag.

"Hmm…Water Gun, Body Slam and Powder Snow huh? Ok, I'll try them out. Alright Spheal, let's try a Water Gun attack!" Spheal nodded and shot a jet of water from its mouth. It was a little more impressive than she had thought.

"Watch out Seel! Dodge it!" Rainer called to its pokemon. Seel lay on its back and pushed itself off with its tail. It used its soft fur to slide around on the ship's deck since it wasn't particularly skilled at moving around quickly on land. Spheal's Water Gun had missed.

"Keep up the Water Gun!" Marina ordered. Spheal continued to fire Water Gun attacks at Seel, but it was able to dodge them effectively by sliding out of the way.

"Grrrr…This isn't working! Ok, try a Powder Snow attack!" Spheal spat out a barrage of small snowflakes at Seel, hoping to slow it down. However Seel just kept sliding around rendering the attack useless. The Powder Snow attack hit the puddles of water left by its Water Gun attack, freezing them upon impact. Using the newly created ice on the deck, Seel was able to slide around much faster.

"Seel! Headbutt!" Rainer finally called Seel's first attack. Seel slid along on the ice, picking up speed and finally hurtled towards Spheal headfirst, its horn pointing directly at Spheal. The combined speed and sharp horn resulted in a powerful attack and Spheal was knocked unconscious in just one attack. Marina felt incredibly let down, but she thought to herself that she'd get better in time. After all, it was only her first battle. She recalled Spheal and put the pokeball back where it belongs.

"High Five!" Rainier yelled to Seel. It slapped its tail into Rainer's hand and the two had already developed a bond. Rainier recalled his pokemon and the battle was over. The crowd began to part and the passengers went back to what they were doing. Marina felt sad and decided to go to the side of the ship and sulk. Rainier was about to rub in his victory but realised that his sister was upset, and he decided to leave her alone.

Only a few hours later it had begun to get dark. Rainier and Marina had a room on the ship, but unfortunately they had to share. Their room was very basic – a bed on either side of the room, a desk below the porthole window and a small toilet cubicle near the door. Marina was restless and frequently woke up that night. She was awoken again but this time by footsteps from the room above them. As she opened her eyes she felt that something was wrong. She felt different somehow. She sat up in bed and looked towards the porthole. It was incredibly foggy outside but Marina got the impression that the ship wasn't moving. Sleeping in her clothes, she didn't need to get dressed. She grabbed her bag and decided to head out on deck, tiptoeing quietly to make sure she didn't wake up Rainier.

"We can't be in Pacifidlog yet can we?" She muttered to herself as she walked up the stairs to the deck. As she opened the door to the deck she was hit with a sudden change of temperature. It was incredibly cold for the Hoenn region and the fog made it hard to see more than twenty feet away. She ran over to the side rails and peered out to sea as best as she could, but she couldn't see a thing. Looking around, a few other people had woken up and come to check what was going on. Either that or they had been awake for the entire trip. Marina leaned her head forward and squinted as she tried to spot a crew member. Luckily there was one available. She hurried over to him to see he was on a telephone.

"Yes…Yes…Really? What should I tell the passengers?...Uh huh…OK…Yes Captain…Ok, bye." Marina could only hear one side of the conversation. The crew member had hung up the phone and Marina decided to dive straight in with a question.

"Excuse me, but what's going on? Why have we stopped?" She asked. She had mixed feelings about the situation. She felt excited but also a little worried. The crew member turned to Marina.

"Well, according to the Captain, an unchartered island is in our path. We have sailed this route before but not come across this island ever. The Captain believes it is the fabled Mirage Island! The Captain wants to stop and take photographic evidence before we sail around it."

"Really? Oh cool! Are we allowed off the ship too?" Marina had a huge smile upon her face. She was dying to see it. Marina's policy was that if something is very rare, then it's worth making the trip to see it.

"Yes, passengers are permitted to disembark but we ask that you refrain from going too far from the ship. The crew down below should be getting the boarding platform ready so we can get across to the island." The sailor acted very politely. It was his job to be as polite as possible to all passengers. But something he said didn't quite make sense to Marina.

"Wait…how can we get to the island? Where is it? I can't even see it!" She asked. She peered around to try and spot it.

"It's just over there!" The crew member said, pointing to the other side of the ship. Marina rushed over and leaned past the rail to try and make out the shape of an island. With all the thick fog it was incredibly hard to see it, but she could make out a faint outline of what seemed like a small rocky cliff. She gazed at it until she was shocked by a hand that had quietly crept onto her shoulder…She slowly turned her head around and screamed as she realised someone was standing behind her!

"Woah!" the person said. He stepped back a few paces and Marina placed her hand over her chest. Her heart was beating really fast. She looked up and saw a familiar figure.

"I woke up to find the ship had stopped and you had vanished from the room! I thought you might be in trouble! What are you doing up here? And what's going on?" The person said. Marina recognised that voice.

"Rainier! Don't scare me like that!" Marina caught her breath back and stood up straight. Her facial expression changed to a smirk.

"Since when have you been worried about me? That's an unusual change of character!" Marina decided to tease her brother about it. "Well anyway, we've stopped because Mirage Island is right over there! I'm gonna go check it out!" She said.

"Well don't get used to me caring about you! It was really a one-off! So that's the infamous Mirage Island, eh? Well, I guess I'll go check it out too! Let's go!" Rainier had already grabbed his bag and Marina had hers, so they ran down the stairs and soon enough reached the exit to the ship.

"Please watch your step! And try not to stray too far from the ship!" Another ship attendant was nearby. Marina held on to the rope railing of the boarding platform. She was so excited but decided to step carefully rather than rush ahead. She looked around and noticed something peculiar on the side of the ship. She couldn't quite make it out since it was about 20 or 30 feet away from her. It looked like a rope but wasn't shaped like one and it seemed blue in colour.

"Hmm…I wonder what that is?" She whispered to herself. Upon reaching dry land, she saw some other crew members and passengers. The Captain was also on the island taking photographs.

"Hey Rainier, I'm going over there to have a look around. Are you coming?" Marina said. She waved her arms at him so he could spot her easily in the fog even though she was only a few feet away from him. Rainier thought she was acting stupid and sighed. He followed her. The island was covered in thick jungle. There was nothing but trees and bushes everywhere they looked. A rustle in the bushed startled Marina. She ran behind Rainier and grabbed onto him.

"Wh...What was that?" Rainier could feel her trembling behind him. Rainier was a little spooked himself but still went over to investigate the bush. As he parted the bush to see what was hiding in it, a blue creature ran away. Marina screamed which startled Rainier more than the creature jumping out of the bush.

"Quick! Let's follow it!" Rainier was interested to see what it was. He ran after it and Marina had no choice but to run after him since she was now pretty scared of the place. They soon found themselves back at the ship, but they had indeed followed the creature the right way. Marina saw it running up the strange blue ladder she saw earlier. Marina wanted to find out what that ladder was so she approached it cautiously with Rainier just behind her. As she got closer she realised this was no ordinary ladder. Suddenly the blue creature ran down the ladder carrying something. A few dozen more followed it down the ladder, also carrying things with them. The blue creatures all rushed past them, moving so fast that they couldn't make out what they were.

"Rainier! Look!" Marina was extremely shocked to see the blue ladder moving by itself! But what shocked her more was when she saw it split into several parts, all moving by themselves too! They were obviously the same blue creatures as they saw before. They all ran off after the first batch of creatures. Two of them ran up to Marina and Rainier and slipped their backpacks right off their shoulders and ran off with them.

"Hey! That's my backpack!" Marina shrieked.

"Yeah, and mine too! Get back here!" Rainier had an angry expression on his face. He started to run after them and Marina did too. Marina passed Rainier and ran much faster than him since she was in much better shape. After a few minutes of running, they reached a cave. Marina stopped to catch her breath for a few seconds but Rainier fell to the floor to get his back. He was completely exhausted! Marina heard a splash coming from within the cave and ran in to see what it was.

"Aw man, you gotta be kidding me!" Rainier moaned as he got back to his feet and ran once more. He couldn't take much more of it. Marina stopped as she arrived at a large pool of water and saw one of the blue creatures swimming into an underwater tunnel. It was the one who took her backpack.

"Rainier! Quick! They're underwater! Let's see where they're going!" Marina dove into the water with no consideration of her clothes getting wet. Rainier jumped in after her. He didn't have time to take his shoes or anything off because he had to look after his sister. The two siblings swam for a few dozen yards before surfacing to find themselves in another cave. The cave was filled with lit torches that seemed to have been lit for years. Marina wondered who had lit them. Was it the blue creatures? Rainier looked around and noticed the large group of blue creatures. His eyes widened as he could see what they really were.

"Look! They're pokemon!" He said. Marina was about to get her pokedex out but realised it was in her bag. Seeing this, Rainier pulled his own pokedex out of one of the pockets on his shorts.

"Wynaut, the Bright pokemon. Wynaut is the pre-evolved form of Wobbuffet. It uses its ears as arms and hands to pick up and feel things." The pokedex confirmed that they were pokemon.

"Hey look! There's our bags! And a bunch of other bags from the ship!" She ran over to them but the Wynaut created a barricade to stop her. With an angry expression on their faces, the Wynaut looked prepared to challenge her. A Wynaut slightly bigger than the others stepped forward which appeared to be the leader of the group. It challenged Marina to a battle to protect the bags. Marina grabbed the only pokeball she had with a pokemon inside and released her starter pokemon.

"Fine! You want a battle, then here's your battle! I choose you Spheal!" She boldly told the Wynaut leader. Spheal appeared and judging from its trainer's voice it could tell she meant business so Spheal showed a confident look on its face.

"Water Gun!" Marina commanded. Spheal shot a powerful jet of water at Wynaut. Wynaut began to glow and as the Water Gun hit it, it didn't seem to be doing anything to it. The Water Gun stopped in front of the Wynaut like there was some sort of barrier in front if it. Wynaut focused and thrust its body a few inches in the direction of Spheal. The Water Gun attack reflected and hit Spheal, causing some powerful damage. Spheal was low on energy already.

"What was that?" Marina yelled. Rainier still had his pokedex in his hand and pointed it at the Wynaut again.

"Wynaut is unable to attack directly, but causes damage by returning attacks at double the power using its counter attacks. Counter reflects physical attacks like Tackle, while Mirror Coat reflects special attacks like Flamethrower." The pokedex gave Rainier a good idea of how to defeat it. He grabbed his pokeball and released Seel.

"Hmm…Surely it can't use both Counter and Mirror Coat at the same time, right? So if we attack it with both a special AND a physical move, it won't be able to counter them both. Marina! Try attacking with a Water Gun again!" Marina looked puzzled. Why should she do it again? The same thing was bound to happen. Rainier winked at her which signalled to her that he had a plan. She smiled back at him.

"Ok Spheal, try another Water Gun!" Spheal, being totally obedient, performed another Water Gun attack. Wynaut began to glow again as it got ready to use Mirror Coat.

"Seel! Use Headbutt!" Rainier's turn was now. Seel jumped at Wynaut to use Headbutt on it. Too busy with its Mirror Coat attack, Wynaut was unable to Counter Seel's Headbutt. It was knocked several feet away, smacking into the cave wall. It fell unconscious and Rainier grabbed an empty pokeball.

"Pokeball go!" He shouted. The echo could be heard clearly. The pokeball made contact with the Wynaut and it was sucked inside the pokeball. The pokeball shook several times and finally stopped.

"Yes! I caught my first pokemon!" Rainier sounded like a little boy as he said it. He ran over to pick up the pokeball and kissed it before shrinking it and placing it with his other pokeballs.

"Ok you group of Wynaut! Now I've captured your leader, give us our bags back!" Rainier threatened the Wynaut. The Wynaut shook their heads. Suddenly, the island began to shake, and it felt like it was moving!

"What's going on? It feels like the island is sinking!" Marina wondered how it was possible. The Wynaut nodded their heads in unison.

"You know it's sinking? How are you so calm about it?" Rainier asked the Wynaut in complete despair.

"I think I know why! This cave is like an air pocket! The Wynaut can survive in here even while the entire island is underwater…It's like if you place an empty glass upside-down into some water, the air stays inside it if held in position. The same thing applies here." Marina explained. The Wynaut nodded their heads once again to confirm that she was right.

"Yeah, but what about us?" Rainier was starting to lose control of himself. Marina glanced again at the bags in the corner.

"Why do you want the bags anyway?" She asked. One of the Wynaut went over to a lunch box and pulled out an apple using its ear-like arms.

"Food? Is that all?" The Wynaut nodded. Rainier couldn't believe they'd steal everyone's stuff just for some food.

"Hmm…If the island is sinking, then they must want the food so they can stay alive in this cave for the duration of the island's time underwater! It's like hibernation for pokemon like Ursaring!" Marina showed off her knowledge to Rainier. It was nice to have something to brag about since he normally did all the bragging. Marina decided to use a trick of her brother Dewey's and flared up her eyes into puppy dog eyes!

"Please! If you don't return those bags, a lot of people are going to be very upset! These bags have sentimental value and the things inside of them are priceless! They might have keepsakes from their parents, photos of their families…some might even have pokeballs in them. And to us humans, the pokemon we catch are almost like our best friends! Please! You have to return the bags to their rightful owners! You can keep all the food, but the bags and the contents of them are something that we just can't give away!" Marina tried a bit of acting and managed to shed a tear or two during her speech. The Wynaut looked at each other and then looked at the bags. The Wynaut seemed sad and a little touched by Marina's speech.

"Wynaut! Wy! Wynaut!" One of the Wynaut shouted out loud. All of the others ran over to the pile of bags and were raiding them for food. After collecting all the food, they placed it in another pile and cleared an opening for Marina and Rainier to get to the bags.

"Thank you! Really!" Marina was very grateful and went over to grab her own bag first of all. She pulled out the foil package that had the sandwiches her mother gave her when she left Sootopolis City. She held it out in front of the Wynaut.

"Here, you missed one!" The Wynaut graciously accepted it. Rainier and Marina recalled their pokemon since they were still out of their pokeballs after the battle with the Wynaut leader. Their next mission was to get all of the bags to the ship before the island completely sank! As well as their own backpacks, they had others on top of each other on their backs and they were both weighed down quite a bit!

"Come on Marina! Let's get going!" Rainier urged her out of the cave in a hurry since the island was still sinking. The two trainers dove back into the water and eventually emerged from the cave.

Meanwhile back at the ship, the captain and crew members had hurried everyone back on board.

"Is that everyone on board then?" The Captain asked.

"No, Captain! I believe two teenagers went off and haven't returned yet!" A crew member informed the Captain. The Captain looked hard into the fog and scratched his head.

"Hmm…Well we'll have to wait for them I guess. If they don't return by the time the island sinks, we'll have to leave without them I'm afraid…" The Captain was sad to hear himself say such words. As he got back on the ship, he was bombarded with complaints about missing bags and lunchboxes. The Captain didn't have time for that, so he hurried back to the Bridge ready to set sail since the island wasn't likely to stay afloat much longer. He decided to sound the horn which echoed for miles around. The sound of the horn was heard by Marina and Rainier who used it as a guide to get back to the ship since they were unsure of which direction to head in.

"Come on! The sound of the ship's horn came from over there!" Marina ran ahead first but with the weight of the extra bags she couldn't run as fast as she normally could. Rainier was also having the same problem. After only a couple of minutes of slow running, the island was sinking much faster. The water had reached their ankles and so they decided to speed up a little. Before they knew it, the water was up to their waists, and they were forced to wade through the water, severely slowing them down.

Rainier could see the ship just ahead, but the water was getting so deep now that they had no choice but to swim. The ship's boarding platform had already been pulled back onto the ship, meaning that they couldn't board through the entrance.

"Marina! It's too deep now! Let's get our water pokemon to help us out!" Rainier yelled towards Marina. He was quite far behind her. Agreeing, she released Spheal and grabbed on to it.

"Spheal, you gotta get me to the ship! Hurry!" Spheal was only small but it swam as hard and as fast as it could towards the ship. Rainier passed her while holding onto Seel. It seemed that Seel was the better swimmer. The crew member that informed the Captain about Marina and Rainier's absence was peering over the railings on the deck. He was watching out for them. Upon seeing them, he threw out two rubber rings from the deck that were attached to some rope. Rainer and Marina grabbed on and were pulled up on deck.

Marina explained to everyone on deck that they had returned all the bags but lost all of the food in them to some hungry pokemon. The Captain had returned from the Bridge to congratulate them for returning the bags.

"Ah, well done you two! I've been getting complaints about missing bags ever since the island started sinking! As a reward, I'll get the cook to make you a HUGE meal!" The Captain said with a giant smile on his face. Coincidentally, the cook ran up on deck to speak to the Captain…

"Captain! The food in the pantry has all gone!" He panted. A giant sweat drop ran down Marina's head.

"Hmm…The hungry pokemon took it didn't they? Oh well…maybe next time…" She sighed to herself.

**And so, after saving the day, Marina and Rainier dried off and rested for the remainder of the voyage. They never got their giant meal, with no thanks to the Wynaut! Still, Rainier got a new pokemon and of course they got all the bags back with some very thankful passengers! **

Next time in Pokemon - Hoenn Hero! – 

Marina and Rainier arrive in Pacifidlog where they find out about a pokemon contest being held there. Marina makes a new friend and learns all about pokemon contests! Is this Marina's calling in life? To take part in pokemon contests? Find out next time!


	3. Chapter 3

**Pokemon - Hoenn Hero!**

**Episode 3 – You'll have to be a bit more Pacifidlog!**

**Last time, Marina and Rainier arrived on ship and explored the fabled Mirage Island, retrieving the passengers' stolen bags from the group of Wynaut that lived there. Two days later, they now arrive in Pacifidlog Town. What events await our heroes on the island? **

"Aw man I'm SO hungry!" Marina slouched with both of her hands covering her stomach. She hadn't eaten in a long time, much like everyone else on the ship. Well…Almost everyone!

"I feel great! Let's go!" Rainier was the most cheery person in the ship. He couldn't wait to get off the ship and do some exploring for some wild pokemon!

"Well it's no wonder you're being so optimistic…You hid your sandwiches from those Wynaut back on Mirage Island! You had the only piece of food left on the ship!" Marina was getting grouchy. Like everyone else on board she had starved for the past two days.

"Ah, and what lovely sandwiches they were! I've gotta thank Mom for wrapping them in foil! If she hadn't, the Wynaut wouldn't have missed them!" Rainier patted his stomach in delight while Marina just gave him an evil expression on her face.

"Yeah but did you see everyone's faces on deck when they saw you eating them? I've never seen so many angry faces! And there were some passengers drooling so much we could have had a pool on deck! It was really selfish of you to eat them in front of everyone!" Marina was letting her hunger make her really angry. Rainier hated feeling like it was his fault so just tried to pass the blame to someone else.

"Well then, you shouldn't have given your own sandwiches to the Wynaut! Yours were wrapped in foil too, the Wynaut wouldn't have noticed them either! But no…You had to be too nice for your own good!" Rainier just crossed his arms and tried to ignore her. Marina raised her hand as she wanted to hit him, but realised she was too tired and lacked the energy to fight with him. The boarding platform had now been lowered and the passengers were able to get off. Watching from on deck, Marina saw the crowds of people run off of the ship at full speed and into town to grab some food to eat. She could see queues building up outside of all the fast food stands and restaurants.

"No! I want some food too! Now there are queues!" Marina couldn't believe her bad luck. She hurried down the deck's stairs and made her way off the ship. It seemed that Rainier and Marina were the last two off the ship. Marina looked around and noticed they were on a lovely beach, but what grabbed her attention the most was a hotdog stand a few hundred yards away. She ran there as fast as she could and ordered about seven hotdogs which she began to munch on. She felt like she hadn't eaten in weeks! Rainier caught up with her and decided to order a hotdog himself. He spaced his sandwiches over the last two days but still felt like his hunger wasn't completely satisfied. While Marina stuffed her face, Rainier picked up a small brochure from a small rack next to the hotdog stand and read through it.

"Hmm…According to the leaflet there's a village not far down the beach where all the houses are made of logs and float on the water on top of a Corsola colony. Sounds pretty cool!" Rainier wasn't much of a person for sightseeing but it sounded interesting to him. The Corsola colony was the icing on the cake and he felt like he had to go there and maybe catch a Corsola for himself. Marina wasn't really listening. She was too busy eating the hotdogs!

"………Ok then, I'm gonna check it out. The island's not very big so I'll catch up with you later. I'm sure I can find you. Later!" Rainier walked off while Marina finished her second to last hotdog. As she was about to take a bite out of the last one, a coconut fell out of the tree next to her and landed inches away from her.

"Hey! Watch it! That could have really hurt if it had hit me!" She said with her mouth still full of hotdogs. She looked up and saw a flying-type pokemon resting in the tree. Grabbing her pokedex she flipped it open with one hand (the other was still holding a hotdog!) and pointed it at the pokemon.

"Swablu, the Cotton Bird pokemon. Its wings are almost like clouds, which makes this pokemon very light in weight. Swablu are usually found in large flocks that migrate to different areas depending on the season".

"Well this one sure isn't in a flock! Maybe I'll capture it! Come on out Spheal!" Marina released Spheal, the only pokemon she had. It clapped its hands with joy as usual which Marina thought was always nice to see.

"Ok Spheal, how about a Water Gun?" Spheal nodded and sprayed the Swablu with enough force that it was knocked out of the tree and landed on the sandy beach. The soft sand was a comfortable cushion, but nevertheless, the Swablu was quite angry at being disturbed. Swablu jumped up from the spot and started flapping its wings to take to the skies. As it flew up it swerved round and came back towards Spheal.

"Water Gun again! Shoot it out of the sky!" Marina wanted to test out what was better – Spheal's accuracy or Swablu's evasiveness. As a Water Gun headed straight for it, Swablu dove out of the way. Its dodging skills were indeed impressive. Swablu reached Spheal and started pecking at it repetitively. Spheal gave out a cry and winced from the pain.

"Don't give in to that! Body Slam it!" Spheal jumped into the air to prevent itself from being pecked by Swablu and came back down with extra force behind its weight, attempting to Body Slam the Swablu. Swablu swiftly flew away and swerved round again for another dive at Spheal.

"Ok then, let's try a Powder Snow attack to slow it down! Spray it all over the place so it can't avoid it!" Spheal spat out some snow which Swablu flew straight into. It caused some damage, but not too much. However, the snow began to make its wings become stiff and Swablu found it hard to fly around easily.

"Ok Spheal, let's try a Water Gun again!" Spheal shot a stream of water at Swablu. It managed to avoid it, but was unable to dodge a second Water Gun from Spheal and its wing was hit. Swablu fell to the sand again, struggling to get up because of its almost frozen wings and because of the damage from the Water Gun attack.

"Finish it with a Body Slam!" Spheal leapt into the air. Unable to move out of the way, Swablu had no choice but to watch Spheal deliver a powerful attack. Swablu cried out loud and fell unconscious with its tongue sticking out to the side.

"Good work Spheal! Now let's try this!" Marina picked up one of her other pokeballs from her waist and pressed the button on it to enlarge it.

"Pokeball, go!" She yelled. She was excited at the thought that this might lead to her very first capture! Sure enough, the pokeball hit Swablu and engulfed it in a red light, which was soon sucked inside the pokeball. As the pokeball hit the floor it started shaking from side to side. Marina widened her eyes and clenched her fists.

"Come on! Come on!" She prayed and prayed in her mind. The ball shook for a few seconds more and finally stopped. She stopped for a second to watch the pokeball.

"Is that it? Did I catch it?" She slowly walked over to the pokeball and hesitantly picked it up. Examining it closely her facial expression went from one of intrigue to one of excitement.

"I did it…I DID IT! I caught my first pokemon! Woo hoo! I'm the greatest pokemon master!" She shouted in excitement. She hugged the pokeball and rocked back and forth with it. A few snide remarks quickly broke her out of her good mood.

"You call that a capture?"

"Yeah, your technique was terrible!"

"You'll never win with moves like that!" Marina opened her eyes and looked round to see a few people scattered around that had been watching her.

"Huh? What won't I win?" She had no idea what they were talking about.

"The pokemon contest of course! You need to brush up on your skills if you wanna even think about winning!" Marina looked sad and a little puzzled as she watched the people walk off.

"A pokemon contest? What's that?" She said to herself out loud. Placing the pokeball with the newly caught Swablu in it back around her waist she decided to go find out what a pokemon contest was. Her mind was elsewhere, and Spheal was still out of its pokeball.

"Oh, I almost forgot! Thank you Spheal! You did a great job! This is the first step for us on our journey! Hopefully you'll help me catch other pokemon too! Now take a rest!" She knelt down to pat Spheal on the head before returning it to its pokeball. As she walked into town she ate the last hotdog and started her search to find out what a pokemon contest was. Funnily enough there were still queues outside the restaurants and fast food stands.

"The passengers from the ship must have been REALLY hungry like me!" She chuckled to herself. A young girl of about nine walked by and Marina decided to ask her about the contest.

"Excuse me! Is there a pokemon contest being held around here? I want to find out what one is!" Marina politely asked but the girl gave her a look of disbelief. She was only nine but she knew much more than Marina about pokemon contests. She placed her hands on her hips and proudly told her of the contests.

"Well, a pokemon contest is where pokemon coordinators use their pokemon to create dazzling appeals with their pokemon's attacks! The pokemon with the best appeals will win the contest and the coordinator will be given a ribbon as a prize! It's an amazing event! I can't believe you've never heard of pokemon contests before!" The girl took a breather and Marina was reminded of that knowledge-bragging attitude that Rainier often had. She was intrigued by the fact that by entering the contest she could show off some style and have lots of fun with it too. And the ribbon as a prize sealed the deal. Marina was determined to enter!

"Really? Wow that sounds cool! Can you tell me where the contest takes place?" Before Marina could even finish the sentence, the girl pointed over to her left.

"The contest hall is over there if you're interested! Have fun!" The girl gave a quick wave to Marina which she returned and Marina hurried on to check out the pokemon contest hall. As she arrived outside she couldn't believe how big it was! She admired it for a few seconds and then entered the lobby. The whole thing was new to her so she stopped to take the time to examine everything. There were many trainers in the lobby taking care of their pokemon by giving them cute accessories and grooming them. There were pokemon that she hadn't seen before. She was tempted to get out her pokedex and get information on every pokemon in the room until she remembered what she was really there for. She walked over to the main desk where a woman was putting on smile. It looked like she had been holding her smile for hours!

"Umm…Excuse me Miss, but I'd like to enter the contest please!" She was a bit nervous about asking since she had never been in a contest before and wasn't quite sure exactly what she was getting herself into.

"Of course! Could I see your ribbons please?" Marina just responded with a blank expression. She had no idea what ribbons she was talking about.

"Uh…ribbons? What ribbons? What do I need those for?" Marina's clueless face caused the woman to drop her smile. She tilted her head a little and looked a little strangely at Marina.

"Have you even entered a pokemon contest before young lady?" She asked. Marina kept her clueless face and just shook her head. The woman returned a smirk and rolled her eyes back.

"Well then this is really the wrong contest for you to start with! This is an R-1 contest, meaning that the coordinators entering this contest need at least one ribbon to participate. Since you've not entered a contest before I take it you don't have a contest pass yet?" Marina shook her head again. She was a little disappointed and didn't feel like smiling anymore. The woman went to her computer and tilted a miniature web camera so it was pointing at Marina.

"Smile!" The camera flashed a little and Marina was still showing her clueless face. The woman began some fast typing on her keyboard.

"Uh, could I have your name please?" The woman stared at Marina who was STILL showing a blank expression on her face. She snapped out of it as she realised her brain needed to function for her to answer the question!

"My name's Marina. Marina Mare."

"Ok then Marina, just a second!" The woman did some more typing and then picked up a green card and scanned it with her computer. She then handed the card over to Marina.

"Here you are! This is your contest pass! Just present this when you next enter a contest! Good luck!" Marina stood at the desk looking at her contest pass. It had a big picture of a ribbon on it and a gold holographic symbol in the corner. She continued looking at it but her silence was broken by a girl who come to the desk and stood right next to her.

"Hello! I'd like to enter the contest please!" The girl was talking to the woman behind the desk. Marina turned round to look at the girl. She looked a few years older than Marina. She wore a red tank top that was similar to Marina's orange one, and she wore brown trousers that had short legs. Marina wondered if they were baggy shorts or short trousers. She also wore a stylish dark green hat and brown boots. Her hands were covered in black gloves with no fingers. She had short, dark brown hair and blue eyes which contrasted with her hair. Looking at her, Marina thought she looked incredibly stylish. Marina knew there was style involved with the pokemon's attacks and appeals, but Marina could see that this girl wanted to look stylish herself.

"This is an R-1 contest…May I see your ribbons please?" The woman behind the desk robotically responded.

"Oh, sure! Hang on a sec!" The girl seemed very laid back about things. She took off her bag and pulled out a thin metal case. She opened it and showed it to the woman. Marina leaned backwards to get a glance at the ribbons. She couldn't really see them clearly without making it look obvious that she was staring at them. Shutting it back up again, she placed it in her bag again.

"And here's my pass!" The girl pulled out a contest pass similar to Marina's and showed it to the woman who then scanned it and handed it back. The girl's details were pulled up on screen.

"Ok Allie, you are contestant number 18! Good luck! The contest begins at 2pm!" The girl placed the contest pass back in her pocket. Marina looked at the clock on the wall and noticed it was now almost noon. Marina decided to talk to the girl to get a bit more information on pokemon contests since she seemed to have more experience.

"Hey, my name's………" Marina stopped mid sentence to see that the girl had gone! She turned around and saw her walking out of the automatic doors. Marina raced outside to catch up with her.

"Hey! Wait! Uh……Allie!" Remembering the name that the registration woman said, she called the girl by her name. Sure enough, the girl looked round.

"Hey! You were the girl at the desk! What's up?" Allie seemed incredibly mellow about a girl who she had never seen before coming up to her and calling her by name!

"Umm…Well, I wanted to talk to you about pokemon contests! I've never been in one before you see. Could I talk about them with you?" Marina began to go a little shy.

"What, here?" Allie joked. "Come on, I'm heading down to the beach to practice! You can join me!" She began to lead the way and Marina followed her.

"Uh, my name's Marina! I'm from Sootopolis City!" Marina tried to strike a conversation as they walked to the beach.

"Well, you already know my name's Allie! I'm from Fortree City! Nice to meet ya!" Allie shook hands with Marina as they walked down the street. Allie took them to a section of the beach Marina had already been to. Marina noticed the familiar hotdog stand. Allie went to get a hotdog and Marina stood next to her. The guy working there remembered Marina and decided to crack a joke.

"Hey, Bill! Looks like we're gonna need a new shipment of hotdogs! I don't think we have enough to feed this kid again!" The hotdog worker yelled. Marina wasn't amused by the joke and showed off a face accordingly. Allie just giggled and ordered her hotdog. Allie took Marina over to a bench and they both sat down.

"So…How many contests have you been in so far?" Marina asked. Allie held her hotdog in between her teeth as she used both of her hands to count.

"Umm...About eight I think…Although I've only won two so far. I'm getting better and I hope to win more contests now."

"Can I see your ribbons?" Marina put her hands together in excitement. She really wanted a good glimpse at the ribbons! Allie pulled the case out of her bag again and gave the case to Marina. Marina carefully opened it up and saw two ribbons in there. They almost looked the same, but were different colours. One was a bright orange colour, while the other was a dark blue colour. Marina closed the case and handed it back to Allie.

"Now I still don't understand…What exactly is involved in a contest?" Although she had an explanation from the girl in the street, she still wasn't entirely sure exactly what entrants did. Allie had just finished the last bite of her hotdog and stood up, grabbing a pokeball from her pocket.

"You want me to run through a pokemon contest with you? Hey, you can join in! Stand up! Let's go!" Allie grabbed Marina by the arm and yanked her off the bench and onto the sand.

"The first round is all about your style and technique! The way your pokemon show off their appeals depends on whether you get through or not! Let me show you an example! Go, Quilava!" She threw the pokeball in her hand and revealed one of her pokemon. As the pokeball opened, it didn't appear as pokemon normally appeared after being released. A huge flash of fire surrounded it which died down to reveal the pokemon. Marina was amazed at the entrance it made!

"Ok, now I want you to use your Flame Wheel! Combine it with a Quick Attack! Show us a pokeball!" Quilava built up its fire until it surrounded the entire pokemon. Quilava ran around in a circle repeatedly at blindingly high speeds and began to run around in patterns inside the circle. Quilava soon stopped and ran back over to Allie. Marina looked closely at the fire that was still burning on the sand. It was in the shape of a pokeball!

"It's all about combos and techniques that get you through the first round! Why don't you give it a shot? Try to be creative and make your own combo appeal!" Allie urged Marina to take part. Marina stepped forward and paused to think about what pokemon she'd use. She had only just caught Swablu and didn't really know many of its attacks, so she decided to go with Spheal since she'd had some experience battling with it.

"Ok Spheal, let's try to impress Allie!" Marina threw the pokeball in front of her and Spheal appeared. It cutely clapped its hands again.

"Aww! That's so cute!" Allie's eyes began to sparkle as she thought it was really adorable. Marina couldn't believe that something as simple as that could make a difference to its entrance, especially since she didn't even order Spheal to do it! Marina only knew three of Spheal's attacks at the time and thought of an interesting combination.

"Ok Spheal, use your Water Gun and – " Before she had even finished the sentence, Spheal had already launched a Water Gun at Quilava, knocking it unconscious since it wasn't prepared to take the attack! Allie quickly recalled it.

"Spheal! What are you doing? I didn't finish! Sorry Allie!" Marina scratched the back of her head as she apologised. Allie showed a slightly unhappy look on her face, something she hadn't showed until now.

"OK, this time, use your Water Gun in the air and use your Powder Snow to freeze it!" Spheal shot a Water Gun straight above itself which collected into a pool of water in mid-air. Spheal then sprayed snow up at the water and froze it. Realising what it had done, it leapt out of the way. The water had indeed frozen, but the result was a large ice block falling about a dozen feet which landed close to Marina. Marina jumped back in fear.

"Oops…That wasn't exactly what I was going for! I wanted to make a beautiful statue out of ice! I guess it didn't work…" Marina bowed her head in disappointment. Allie went to pat her on the back.

"Don't feel too bad! It was your first time! You just need to practice more! Ok, after the appeals, the top scorers go ahead and battle in a mini tournament! Let's battle two on two!"

Marina raised her head back up. She was still fairly new to battling and wasn't too skilled at it yet. Her facial expression was an unusual one – worry mixed with excitement!

"Um…Ok then!" Marina realised that although she wasn't particularly good at battling, she needed to battle more to get better! Allie ran about 20 feet away and turned around ready for battle. She wanted to make space for the pokemon to battle in. Marina wondered which of her two pokemon to pick. Since Spheal was already out, she figured she'd start with it. She looked Spheal in the eyes and it nodded, almost like it knew what she was thinking. Spheal leapt forward into the invisible battlefield. Allie hovered her hands over the pokeballs on her belt. She was trying to decide which of her pokemon to send out. She did have a couple of tough pokemon on her, but decided not to use them since Marina was still a new trainer.

"So you're battling with Spheal then? Ok I'll try this one!" Allie threw a pokeball into the air without announcing who she was picking. The pokeball opened and Marina saw a pokemon that she recognised. It was fairly common in the Hoenn region.

"Oh cool! A Poochyena!" Marina was about to get her pokedex out but decided not to since she already knew a little bit about Poochyena. Marina knew it was a Dark type, but that didn't really help much since Spheal didn't know any attacks that were good against Dark types. Marina bit her lower lip trying to think of which attack to start the battle with. Marina looked up as she heard Allie call to her. Allie was waving her arms at her too.

"C'mon! Let's get moving! I've got a contest to get to soon!" As mellow as she was, she didn't want to miss the contest. Marina just picked an attack at random and decided to wing it.

"Ok Spheal, Water Gun!" Spheal used the attack it was probably most asked to use since Marina got it.

"Watch out, Poochyena!" Poochyena, although small, was quite agile and easily managed to dodge the Water Gun. "Ok, let's show these guys a combo attack! Listen up Marina! The judges love combination attacks! Ok Poochyena, try a Sand-Attack and Dig!" Poochyena began to kick sand at Spheal with its hind legs. A dust cloud began to form and Spheal was unable to locate Poochyena. After the sand cleared, Poochyena had disappeared, leaving behind a hole in the sand.

"Hmm…How are we gonna hit Poochyena now?" Marina asked Spheal. Spheal looked from side to side trying to figure out where Poochyena would surface. For several seconds, Marina and Spheal looked around cautiously waiting for Poochyena to appear. Allie had a big smirk on her face because she knew she was beginning to worry her opponent.

"Now Bite attack!" Allie shouted. Poochyena sprang up from underneath the sand and leapt into the air from behind Spheal and as it fell back down it got ready to land on Spheal and bite it.

"Watch out Spheal! Powder Snow!" Marina needed to call out an attack for Spheal's protection. Spheal sprayed some snow at Poochyena who was unable to avoid it since it was in mid-air. Poochyena became encased in ice and fell onto the sand.

"Woah! Nice move! Ok Poochyena, return!" Allie recalled Poochyena who disappeared from the ice as it was sucked back into the pokeball in the usual red beam of light. The ice remained on the battlefield where it slowly started to melt from the tropical weather. Allie grabbed another pokeball and released her next pokemon.

"What's that?" Allie had never seen one before and thought it looked quite scary. She got out her pokedex to get some information on it.

"Houndour, the Dark pokemon. This pokemon is better at team work in a pack to corner their prey but is still a formidable opponent using fearsome barks and bites. Houndour has traits of both fire and dark types." Marina closed her pokedex and put it back in her bag.

"A fire type huh? Great! Spheal is a water type so it should have no problems! Ok Spheal, Water Gun!" Marina was being confident. She knew that Spheal was a water type so figured she had already won this match.

"How predictable! Dodge it and use your Smog!" Allie knew a Water Gun was coming. Houndour leapt high into the air and sprayed a huge cloud of smog onto the battlefield. Spheal couldn't see a thing and couldn't do anything if it couldn't see its opponent. Houndour leapt back in front of Allie, out of the way of the Smog attack.

"Ok Houndour, let's wrap this up! Flamethrower!" Houndour fired a powerful Flamethrower, an attack that Marina had never seen before. The Flamethrower hit the smog and combined to make an explosion that sent Spheal flying a few metres to the side of the battlefield. Marina had shielded her face with her arm but Allie just stood there smiling since she'd used this strategy before and was always unharmed. Marina rushed over to Spheal to find it couldn't get up. She knew she had lost this one.

"Spheal, return…How could I lose that one? Water versus fire should have been no problem…" Marina was sad about her defeat in this round.

"Don't forget Marina, there's more to pokemon battles than just types! Many trainers try to develop strategies to defeat pokemon they're weak against. The strategy you just witnessed was an example of that. Well don't forget, you've still got one pokemon left! You could still win!" Allie tried to comfort Marina. Marina grabbed the other occupied pokeball, the one with her newly caught Swablu…But Marina was concerned about whether it had recovered after the battle when she captured it. She realised she had no choice and threw the pokeball.

"Ok Swablu, this is my first battle with you so I'm counting on you to do your best!" Swablu turned round to face Marina and nodded in agreement. Swablu flapped its wings and flew into the air. It didn't seem worn out at all. Marina was astounded at the healing capabilities of being inside a pokeball.

"Ok Houndour, Flamethrower attack!" Allie called the same attack that finished off Spheal.

"Watch out! Fly away!" Marina worriedly called her Swablu to avoid the attack. Swablu was quite fast in the air and managed to safely avoid the attack. Houndour repeatedly attempted to fire Flamethrower attacks at Swablu, but it kept avoiding them by using amazing aerial techniques. Marina looked up at Swablu and was really impressed with her new pokemon. Allie was looking quite frustrated that none of her attacks were working.

"Houndour! Smog attack!" Houndour spat out some more toxic clouds at Swablu, making it unable to see where it was going.

"Swablu! Can't you blow the Smog away with your wings?" Marina asked. Swablu used the idea and began rapidly flapping its wings to blow the Smog attack away. As it was busy doing this, a sneak attack from Houndour caught Swablu off guard. A Flamethrower attack from it hit Swablu and it became instantly incapacitated as it fell to the sandy beach floor.

"What? No way!" Marina was devastated. All that skill Swablu had at avoiding attacks and defending itself against the Smog attack were all put to waste due to a sneaky move by Houndour. Marina recalled Swablu and was feeling quite low again. Allie recalled Houndour too and went over to Marina. She put her arm around Marina's shoulders.

"Cheer up! I know you're feeling bad right now but my Houndour is quite experienced! And you're still only just getting started on your journey! Don't worry, you'll get better! I know you will!" Allie smiled at Marina. Marina looked up to see her face and returned a weak smile.

"You think so?" Marina asked. She wondered if Allie was serious or if she was just trying to cheer her up.

"Sure you will! You just need to become more familiar with pokemon attacks and strategies and you'll be a great trainer! Well, if you want to brush up on your battle skills, and you're interested in entering pokemon contests, you should come with me now to the contest hall. It starts in about half an hour so I have to get moving, and you can watch how the other coordinators and I work!" Allie filled Marina with hope. She knew Marina had potential, she just didn't know how to unleash it yet.

"Ok, let's get going!" Marina seemed to have brightened up just like that. She accompanied Allie to the entrance to the contest hall and they had to part ways for a while.

"Good luck in the contest! I know you'll do great!" Like Allie had in Marina, Marina had confidence in Allie's abilities and knew she was going to do great in the contest. "I'll be cheering for you!" Allie gave Marina a pat on the back.

"Thanks! That means a lot to me! I hope you enjoy the contest! And don't forget to study up on the techniques and battle skills used!" Allie felt the need to remind Marina again.

"I won't! I'll focus really hard! Now go and win that contest!" Marina gave her some final words and Allie went through the coordinators' entrance, while Marina went into the lobby to get ready to enter. A familiar voice called to her.

"Hey Marina! Over here!" The voice shouted. There were lots of people in the lobby, so Marina had to look hard to figure out who was calling her. The person waving his arms at her seemed to be the most likely person. She realised who it was as soon as she looked at his face.

"Rainier! What's up?" She rushed over to her brother.

"Well I went to visit that floating log village down the beach and caught me a couple of new pokemon!" Rainier boasted about his new captures. He now had twice as many pokemon as Marina.

"Well I caught a Swablu and I wanted to enter this contest but I need at least one ribbon to enter…" Marina tried to brag about her Swablu right back at Rainier since he always did it to her.

"Hey, I take it you're here to watch the contest? Me too, you can sit with me!" Rainier walked into the contest hall stands with Marina trying to push past the crowds to keep up with him. Rainier sat down in the middle of the stands. Marina quickly sat down next to him so that no-one else could take the seat. Within minutes, the contest was under way as the judges and the host made their entrance to the contest arena. The host had a microphone in her hand and she stepped forward to announce the contest.

"Welcome pokemon fans to the Pacifidlog Pokemon Contest! I'm your host Vivien and I'll be here to comment on today's pokemon contest! The winner of the contest today will receive this beautiful ribbon!" The cheery host showed off a ribbon which was displayed on the big screen on the wall in the background. "Now, without further ado, let's bring on the contestants for the first round!"

For a large portion of the contest, many coordinators release a pokemon each to perform for the audience and the judges. Marina frequently got out her pokedex to get information on the pokemon. Marina was surprised to see not only pokemon attack combinations, but also interesting skills like juggling balls and balancing acts! Marina realised that if she can't get her attack combinations to work, she should try a different kind of act instead. After each coordinator had finished performing, the judges displayed a score ranging from 0.0 to 10.0.

"And now we move on to contest number 18! Say hello to Allie, a two time winner from Fortree City!" The crowd applauded her quite loudly.

"She must be fairly popular, especially if she's won two ribbons." Marina thought to herself. She pictured herself in Allie's place with hundreds of fans cheering for her. Marina liked the idea that she might become famous if she manages to win lots of contests! Allie stepped into the arena and let out her pokemon. Marina had seen three of Allie's pokemon already, but not this one.

"And here is Allie's Jolteon! Let's see what kind of display Allie and Jolteon have for us today!" Vivien commented.

"Ok Jolteon, try a Thunder Wave and Quick Attack combination!" Allie was confident in this combination as it had worked before. Jolteon used its Thunder Wave to create rings of electricity which it then jumped through using its Quick Attack. It made a complicated course of rings to jump through which it managed to perfectly go through one by one.

"Now let's finish off with a Pin Missile! Show the audience how much you love them!" Jolteon fired a Pin Missile attack at the back wall. Like when Quilava made a pokeball shape on the beach with its fire, Allie's Jolteon made a picture too. It used Pin Missile to draw a heart shape on the wall. The crowd were really impressed and flattered with it.

"Amazing! And now let's go to our panel of judges to see how they scored!" Vivien looked at the judges who each displayed a score. Allie and Jolteon received a 9.6, a 9.7 and a 9.4. Allie gave off a huge smile.

"What an incredible score! That will be tough to beat!" Vivien flattered Allie.

"Wow, she's pretty good!" Rainier commented.

"Yeah, I know her! We battled and practiced in the beach while you were gone!" Marina shouted at Rainier since the crowd were being so loud. The final few contestants made their appeals and Vivien announced the next part of the contest.

"Ok fans, now that the first round of appeals is over, we move onto the second round! We harshly cut down the number of contestants to only four! The four highest scoring coordinators go through to the second round, a mini tournament where the contestants must battle each other to proceed! And here are the four trainers who made it through!" Vivien cheerfully pointed to the giant TV screen on the wall and four faces were displayed.

"The second round competitors are: Mandy, Nick, Allie and Joe!" The crowd cheered with applause and Marina joined in too. She was really happy that Allie made it through to the second round! The first match was between Allie and Mandy. Mandy was a slightly older girl than Allie who used a Bellossom in her first round. Marina wondered if she'd have other cute pokemon with her, or if she had some tough brutes.

"Let's move on to the first battle of the second round! Mandy versus Allie! As each pokemon gets attacked, or fails an attack, the coordinator will lose points. The winner of this round is decided when either pokemon is unable to continue the battle, when one coordinator loses all of their points or if the five minute time limit ends, whoever has the most points wins. Let the match begin!" Vivien's explanation left Marina confused. She still had no idea what she meant. The faces of Mandy and Allie were displayed on the screen, each with a yellow bar underneath them. Allie was the first to let her pokemon out.

"I choose you, Quilava!" Allie threw her pokeball onto the battlefield and released her Quilava. Mandy was looking quite confident as she threw her pokeball out. She decided not to announce the pokemon she was using to surprise her opponent. A large fire type pokemon appeared from her pokeball into the arena. Everybody in the audience gasped, as did Allie.

"Hmm, it looks like a Quilava, but bigger!" Marina said to Rainier.

"That's a Typhlosion! Quilava's evolved form! She's gonna have a tough time beating her pokemon's evolution!" Rainier doubted that Allie would win this one.

"What a surprising twist! Allie has picked Quilava, while Mandy has picked a Typhlosion! Will Allie be able to win this one? Let's see what happens!" Vivien announced the start of the match.

"Typhlosion! Use Flame Wheel!" Typhlosion flared up into a fireball and charged at Quilava.

"Watch out Quilava!" Allie began to panic. Quilava attempted to dodge the Flame Wheel but was hit. Combined with Typhlosion's size, speed and power, the Flame Wheel attack was a painful one which knocked Allie's points down by almost a quarter! The yellow bar under Allie's face on the big screen went down. Quilava struggled to get back up.

"Don't give in Quilava! Let's try a Swift attack!" Quilava shot several stars from its mouth out at Typhlosion which made a direct hit. Mandy lost a few points but not many.

"Let's show them a true Swift attack!" Mandy got her Typhlosion to use the same attack. Typhlosion spat out even more stars than Quilava.

"Watch out! Smokescreen!" Quilava sent out a Smokescreen to protect itself from being hit by Swift. As the stars flew into the Smokescreen, Quilava had dodged out of the way. After the smoke began to clear, Quilava was nowhere to be seen.

"Where has Quilava gone?" Vivien wondered. The crowd sat in awe as they too wondered where Quilava had disappeared to. A small hole was revealed after the smoke had completely cleared.

"It's gone underground! It must be using Dig!" Marina said to Rainier. Mandy was unsure of where Quilava was going to come up.

"Strike it Quilava!" Allie yelled. Quilava sprung up from underneath Typhlosion and sent it into the air a few feet, soon after falling onto its back. Luckily for Allie, Mandy's points dropped quite a bit, although she still had more than her.

"Let's stop this little pokemon in its tracks! Hyper Beam!" Mandy commanded. Typhlosion built up a Hyper Beam and fired it almost instantly, giving Quilava no time to dodge. As the Hyper Beam exploded as it hit, Quilava was sent flying and fell unconscious. The judges displayed a red cross on each of their panels to announce that the match had finished.

"That's the end of the match! Quilava has been defeated and Mandy is the winner!" Allie felt bad that she had lost and recalled Quilava. As Allie left the contest arena, she went outside to sit and reflect on things. Marina went outside to join her while Rainier stayed to watch the contest battles.

"Allie! Hey Allie!" Marina shouted to her as she ran up to sit with her.

"I can't believe it…I lost in the second round…" Allie's usual mellow attitude had seemed to have vanished. She was now feeling quite depressed.

"Don't feel too bad! You had very little choice of winning against Quilava's evolved form…Don't blame yourself for it, blame your opponent for using Typhlosion! That was pretty unfair…" Marina tried to cheer Allie up, pretty unusual since Allie had been doing all the cheering up!

"Well, I guess you're right…I can enter more contests and hopefully I'll be able to get enough to enter the Grand Festival this year!" Allie perked up a bit but left Marina confused.

"The Grand Festival? What's that?" Marina asked.

"When a coordinator wins at least five ribbons they can enter the Grand Festival, where the top coordinators compete in a big contest tournament! I want to enter the Grand Festival and win!" Allie explained one of her dreams to Marina.

"Wow, if I'm entering contests too then I guess that's one of my goals too! Maybe I'll see you there too! But I have to practice a lot before I can get good enough to win the ribbons I need!" Marina joked about her own skills.

A little later, Rainier had emerged from the pokemon contest and met up with Marina and Allie. Allie and Marina had been chatting about their goals and inspirations and talking about things in general. The two had become good friends.

"Hey Marina, you missed some awesome battles! Anyway, we should get moving to Slateport since there's so much to do there. I talked to someone inside, they said that today's ship leaves in about ten minutes! We gotta catch it!" Rainier seemed really eager to move on. He had caught a couple of pokemon, watched a contest and did some exploring. He was tired of Pacifidlog already.

"Well, ok then. I guess now the contest is over there's not much point in me sticking around. Hey Allie! Why don't you join us?" Marina looked at Allie with sparkling eyes. She wanted her new best friend to join her.

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm gonna stick around her for a while longer to get some practice and battle some trainers. But maybe I'll see you at another contest! If not, I can always meet you at the Grand Festival!" Allie smiled at her and held her hand out. Marina did the same and they shook hands.

"I hope we meet again real soon!" Marina happily said.

"Yeah me too. Well, you'd better get going or you'll miss your ship!" Although Allie wanted Marina to stick around for a short while longer, she knew they had to go.

"Goodbye!" Marina shouted to Allie as Rainier dragged her along to the ship. As they boarded the ship, Marina ran up on deck to wave goodbye to her new friend. She had learnt a lot from Allie, and even taught Allie a thing or two. Marina waved until the ship had travelled far enough that they were out of sight.

**Marina has had a very eventful visit to Pacifidlog and now has another goal to compete in pokemon contests. Will she be able to win enough ribbons to enter the Grand Festival? Find out in due time…**


End file.
